Species ***Rickettsia* *prowazekii***

Name: Rickettsia prowazekii da Rocha-Lima 1916 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: sp. nov.

Etymology: pro.wa.ze’ki.i. N.L. gen. masc. n. prowazekii, of Prowazek, named after Stanislav von Prowazek, an early investigator of the etiology of typhus who died of typhus contracted in the course of his studies

Pronunciation (Latin), gender: rik-KETT-si-a pro-wa-ZE-ki-i, feminine

Type strain: ATCC VR-142; Brein1; Breinl

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: M21789 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Da Rocha-Lima H. Zur Aetiologie des Fleckfiebers. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift 1916; 53:567-569.

IJSEM list: Skerman VBD, McGowan V, Sneath PHA. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980; 30:225-420.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP, conserved name

Taxonomic status: correct name (and explicitly recommended for medical use)

Risk group: 3

Emendations:
- Hördt et al. 2020 Hordt A, Lopez MG, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Schleuning M, Weinhold LM, Tindall BJ, Gronow S, Kyrpides NC, Woyke T, Goker M. Analysis of 1,000+ Type-Strain Genomes Substantially Improves Taxonomic Classification of Alphaproteobacteria. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:468. 🇩🇪 Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 32. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020; 70:4061-4090.

Notes:
- 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the genus Rickettsia da Rocha-Lima 1916 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Da Rocha-Lima H. Zur Aetiologie des Fleckfiebers. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift 1916; 53:567-569.
- 😷 The risk group for Belgium has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 3, note = "human pathogen". — The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 3, note = "Animal classification RG: 3 - Security sensitive biological agent: Yes - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No". — The risk group for Swiss Confederation has been imported on 2024-02-01. The full classification is: risk group = 3. — The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2026-08-13. The full classification is: risk group = 3, note = "Z". — The risk group for France has been imported on 2024-08-30. The full classification is: risk group = 3. — The risk group for Sweden has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 3. — The risk group for United Kingdom has been imported on 2024-01-31. The full classification is: risk group = 3. — The risk group for United States has been imported on 2024-02-09. The full classification is: risk group = 3. — If in doubt, use the risk group given in the regulations for your country and, if these are not available, use the risk group given in the catalogue of the culture collection from which you have obtained or intend to obtain the strain.
- 🎓 Name mentioned 671 times in PubMed until 2026-06-11.
- 🙆 This name is on the List of Recommended Names for bacteria of medical importance (LoRN) as the name to be applied to this species. The name is on LoRN because of the recorded risk group of the species itself.
- 🧍 According to Bartlett et al. (2022), this species is an established human pathogen. Publication: Bartlett A, Padfield D, Lear L, Bendall R, Vos M. A comprehensive list of bacterial pathogens infecting humans. Microbiology (Reading) 2022; 168:0. 🇬🇧
- 🧍 The type strain designation has been misidentified as Brein-1 or Brein 1 in some publications, which could be due to the font in which it was written. This strain was isolated from a patient in Warsaw, Poland during the epidemic of 1919-1921, was obtained by Dr. Breinl in 1926 from the Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland, transferred to Dr. Maxcy in 1928, and was donated to the ATCC collection in 1962 by Dr. E. J. Bell of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory. Publication: Euzeby JP. List of Bacterial Names with Standing in Nomenclature: a folder available on the Internet. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1997; 47:590-592. 🇫🇷
- 🧍 Conserved epithet (Judicial Opinion 19). Only conservation of a name and an epithet, and each over one earlier homotypic synonym. Publication: Judicial Commission. Judicial Opinion No. 19. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1958; 8:158-159.
- 🧍 In the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names, the type strain is erroneously cited as ATCC VR 142 (without dash). — The type strain ATCC VR-142 is uncataloged. — Nicholson WL. Personal communication, 2007-12-12.

Parent taxon: Rickettsia da Rocha-Lima 1916 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Da Rocha-Lima H. Zur Aetiologie des Fleckfiebers. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift 1916; 53:567-569.

Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://doi.org/10.83108/rn.784798Link copied to clipboard

Record number: 784798

This LPSN page was printed on 2026-08-16 07:19:54

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Species Rickettsia prowazekii

Species ***Rickettsia* *prowazekii***